Program Learning Outcomes Assessment Activities

The process of assessing the outcomes achieved by our students covers the period of study by

the students at the University and their professional careers as alumni. The process includes the

assessment of outcomes for every engineering course the student takes, junior year

assessment, senior year (exit) assessment, alumni assessment, and employer assessment. The

process is implemented using five‐assessment instruments: Course Survey, Junior Survey,

Senior Survey, Alumni Survey and Employer Survey. These are shown in Table 1. Student and

faculty perspectives were analyzed and where there were concerns, these concerns were

addressed as quickly as was possible in order to facilitate program improvement. The alumni

and industry concerns were considered primarily for long‐term changes in the program of

study.

Table 1 ­ ChETU Program Assessment Activities Relative to Objectives

Constituency Assessment Frequency Time Target Outcomes Assessed

Tool

Alumni Survey Every third Fall semester Graduates of a thru o; ability to work as

year past eight years team and independently

Employer Survey Every third Fall semester All employers a thru o; organizing skills, and

year overall performance

Advisory Meetings Annual Fall and Spring Department objectives and outcomes;

Council semesters advisory group strategic plan

Sr. Survey Every Fall and Spring All graduating a thru o

(exit) semester semesters Seniors

Junior Annual Fall semester Students in ME a thru o

Students

Survey core

Course Every Fall/Spring All courses a thru o; comparison of

Survey semester semesters faculty expectations with

student achievements

Co‐op Annual Fall or Spring Active Assessment of student

Survey semester companies competencies

Students Forum Annual/Semi‐ Fall and/or All students in Assessment of learning

and annual Spring the program outcomes

Faculty semester

Parameters for Measuring Outcomes Achievement

The parameters used to measure the level of outcome achievement, necessary to produce

graduates who will ultimately achieve educational objectives, were the following:

1. Level of student agreement with faculty on expected outcomes of specific courses 2. Degree of satisfaction of alumni with their education on a scale of 1 through 5

(1= least, 5=most satisfied) 3. Degree of satisfaction of companies with our graduates (1=least, 5= most) 4. Success of students in internship program 5. Success of graduating students obtaining jobs in mechanical engineering 6. How successful alumni feel they are

Survey Data

Alumni Survey: The alumni survey will be launched in October 2019. The results should be presented as follow in Table 2.

Table 2 ‐ Alumni Survey (1‐Weak 5‐Strong) a. Rate following items relative to your education at College of Engineering

Parameter Rating

Overall quality of your education

Overall quality of your laboratory coursework

Support, assistance and general help from College of Engineering

How prepared were you in handling professional tasks after graduation

If you participated in VIP Coop program, rate quality of your experience

b. Indicate the degree to which your education provided you with ability to:

Apply knowledge of math, science and engineering

Design and conduct experiments

Design a system, component or process to meet desired needs

Function on multidisciplinary teams

Identify, formulate and solve technical problems

Understand professional and ethical responsibility

Communicate effectively (written and oral)

Work independently

Employer Survey: The employer survey provides valuable feedback information on the quality of education received by our graduates and their performance on the job. The Employer Survey form is given in Table 3, together with composite evaluations. Nine local companies employing ChETU graduates responded. These responses are very significant since these are small companies and the quality of each of their employees, especially engineers, is critical to their success.

Table 3 ‐ Employer survey (5‐Far above average, 1‐Far below average)

Parameter Rating

Ability to formulate and solve problems

Ability to conduct experiments

Ability to work on multi‐disciplinary teams or projects

Ability to work independently

Ability to communicate effectively (written and oral)

Ability/desire for self‐learning/continuing education

Ability to use modern technologies and tools necessary for practice

Leadership and supervisory skills

Self‐confidence and initiative

Ethical behavior

Planning and organizing skills

Understanding of global and contemporary issues

Overall performance

Junior Survey: The upcoming Junior survey will be in Spring 2020 semester. The results are

supposed to be presented in Table 4.

Table 4 ‐ Junior survey (5=Very important/satisfied 1=Not important/very dissatisfied)

Program Outcome How important to How satisfied with

BSChE degree education at TU

a. Apply math concepts to engineering problems

b. Apply science to engineering problems

c. Apply analytical skills to engineering problems

d. Conduct experiments; analyze and present

e. Apply knowledge to design component/system

f. Work on multi‐discip. projects; leadership skills

g. Understand ethical & profess. responsibility

h. Make effective oral presentations

i. Present tech info effectively in document/report

j. Communicate with others in team effectively

k. Incorporate economics, safety & environment

l. Conduct independent research req. for problem

m. Participate in tech. and professional societies

n. Know need for life‐long learning

o. Understand global issues related to engineering

The assessment of Senior and Exit Surveys should indicate the improvement in the performance

of the students. The results of the Junior Survey are going to be shared with the faculty to

improve the performance.

Senior Survey: The senior survey of graduating class was administered in Spring 2020 in ChETU.

A summary is given in Table 5.

Table 5 ‐ Senior survey (5=Very important/satisfied 1=Not important/very dissatisfied)

Program Outcome How important to How satisfied with

BSChE degree education at TU

a. Apply math concepts to engineering problems

b. Apply science to engineering problems

c. Apply analytical skills to engineering problems

d. Conduct experiments; analyze and present

results

e. Apply knowledge to design component/system

f. Work on multi‐discip. projects; leadership skills

g. Understand ethical & profess. responsibility

h. Make effective oral presentations

i. Present tech info effectively in document/report

j. Communicate with others in team effectively

k. Incorporate economics, safety & environment

l. Conduct indep. research required for problem

m. Participate in tech. and professional societies

n. Know need for life‐long learning

o. Understand global issues related to engineering

Table 6 is going to show us how satisfied each group is with the education that they received

from TU, as applied to each outcome.

Table 6 ‐ Junior and Senior Survey Comparisons (5=Satisfied 1 1=Very dissatisfied)

How satisfied with How satisfied with

Program Outcomes education at TU education at TU

(Junior) (Senior)

d. Conduct experiments; analyze and present results

e. Apply knowledge to design component/system

f. Work on multi‐discip. projects; on leadership skills

h. Make effective oral presentation

i. Present technical info effectively in

document/report

j. Communicate with others effectively in a

team/group

k. Incorporate economics, safety and environmental

o. Gain an understanding of global issues in engr.

The primary inference that may be drawn from the comparison of Junior and Senior surveys is

that students are learning (improving) in all expected program outcomes. These trends

indicate that there is a progressive development in the preparation of our students to become

successful engineers. This also indicates the ME program of study is successful in its mission.

Senior Exit Interview: The exit interview was a meeting of the department faculty with the

graduating seniors where comments on their education experience at the University were

solicited were solicited from the students. A summary of comments is presented in Table 7.

Table 7 ‐ Summary of exit interview of graduating Seniors

Topic Response

a. Curriculum

b. Instruction received

c. Lab/Project experience

d. Availability of courses

e. Accessibility of faculty

f. Participation in

professional activities

g. Overall experience

h. Plans after graduation

Comments by the graduating students are important to faculty and provide valuable input on

how well the program outcomes are attained. They also pointed out some shortcoming in the

program that will be addressed. These inputs are going to be a factor in the changes made in

the ChETU program of study.

Course Surveys. These surveys were instituted in order to have the faculty define which

outcomes a course should satisfy and obtain feedback from the students on how well they feel

that these outcomes have been achieved. The results of the course outcomes survey are going

to be summarized in Table 8. This table was obtained by a survey of the faculty, who were

asked to list what outcomes were desired and whether each was Very Strong (VS) or Strong (S).

The same survey was given to the students, who were asked to use a 5 (Strong) to 1 (Weak)

rating.

The results of the survey show that ChETU students feel that all of the educational outcomes

are achieved. The weakest outcomes were m, n and o, awareness of need for participation in

professional societies for professional growth, in understanding need for life‐long learning, and

in understanding global issues related to engineering.

Table 8 Student assessment summary by course

Course Outcomes Comments Trend

Student/Faculty Forum: The student/faculty forum is a semi‐annual event in the ME

Department that gives the students and faculty an opportunity to discuss education issues and

suggest improvements.

Process to Ensure Achievement of Objectives

The foregoing described the objectives and how they are achieved through required courses in

the ME curriculum. The process is summarized in this section. To ensure that the objectives of

the program are achieved through the courses offered in the program, the Department of

Chemical Engineering in conjunction with the University and College mission prepared its own

mission statement based on the input from its constituencies. Next, program objectives that

would fulfill the mission statement were developed by the department faculty. The mission

statement and program objectives were presented at the Department Scientific Council

meetings and at student forums, held annually. The final version of the mission statement and

program objectives, accepted by the faculty, became an official document that was published.

The department then prepared a set of outcomes (a through o) that must be achieved by the

courses in the curriculum, each course covering specific outcomes. For each course, the

outcomes were identified in the course outline distributed to the students. Survey instruments

were constructed for assessment and serve two purposes: 1) to verify that the courses in the

curriculum are providing the necessary knowledge base to meet the program objectives and

mission (internal surveys), and 2) to verify that the knowledge provided to our graduates is

appropriate to the changing needs of industry based on input from alumni and the employers

hiring our graduates (external surveys). Internal surveys are given semi‐annually and/or

annually; the external surveys are given every 3 to 6 years. Addressing the changing needs of

the mechanical engineering profession and making the necessary changes to our curriculum in

a timely manner creates a continuous process of improvement of the program. The next step in

the process is the evaluation of program outcome surveys. The survey results are tallied and

compared with the norms established by the department faculty. The discrepancies are

discussed and changes are made to comply with program objectives and program outcomes. In

addition to the changes based on the surveys, the University and/or College may impose

mandatory restrictions, such as a reduction in units required for graduation. Any changes that

affect the ChETU program are discussed at the Advisory Council meetings and Student Forums.

Thus a feedback loop, that provides a corrective mechanism to the changing needs of the

program, is established. This feedback process is illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 1 ‐ Program improvement and assessment process

University and

College

Advisory Council Student Forums

Department Faculty

Mission and

Course

Outcomes

External

Internal

Outcomes Assessment

Feed

bac

k Lo

op

Employer Alumni Course Junior and Senior Senior Exit

Surveys

Survey Data Evalua